All week, nearly every writer in the Caps blogosphere seemed to write about Washington’s troubles at even strength. Despite being second in the NHL in points, Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin was not immune from criticism. Five of Ovechkin’s six points this season had been scored on the power play. The Great Eight had only scored one five-on-five goal this season. That made people grumpy. Not good, Ovi. Not good.

Playing the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, Ovechkin left his precious spot in the left circle and combined with Steve Oleksy to score a dirty, even-strength goal. It was hockey beautiful.

As Oleksy bombs a shot from the point, Ovi raises his stick and somehow gets his stick blade on the puck. The puck grows a mind of its own and bounces past Anton Khudobin. Look at this.

As Chris Gordon points out, Ovechkin now has more goals than the Buffalo Sabres (as a team) and the same number of tallies as the Florida Panthers and Philadelphia Flyers. That’s kind of funny.